Amy Rees Anderson

Amy Rees Anderson

determination

“I urge you to examine your life. Determine where you are and what you need to do to be the kind of person you want to be. Create inspiring, noble, and righteous goals that fire your imagination and create excitement in your heart. And then keep your eye on them. Work consistently towards achieving them.” …

Today I had a luncheon and board meeting for the Stella H. Oaks Foundation board that I serve on. The mission of the foundation is bringing hope to single moms through education. Let me explain why the foundation bears Stella’s name. Stella H. Oaks was a single mother of three after her husband died of …

Life is full of choices. Some are easy choices and some are hard, but the upside of choices is they are always ours to make and no one can ever take that away from us. However, the downside to choices is that while we get to make them, we don’t get to choose what consequences …

I grew up with a father who would start every day with a 3×5 index card in his shirt pocket that held a list of everything he planned to get done that day, and throughout his day he would cross off each item from that 3×5 card as he completed it. My Dad was absolutely …

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons because I love seeing the amazing Fall colors as the leaves on the trees scattered up the mountain behind my home turn beautiful shades of red and yellow. I love apple cider and pumpkin flavored everything. The difficult thing about Autumn is that it also tends to be …

I love a great inspirational true story. Here is the story of determination and persistence that occurred with the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York back in 1870-1883. I had never heard this story before and it was so inspirational! “In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea …

Just how much are we capable of doing in our life? Just how far in life are we able to go? The answer to those questions will depend on what we ourselves determine we are willing to do. How big are we willing to make our dreams? How hard are we willing to work? How …

“The secret to change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates A lot of things are changing in our world right now, and whenever there are times of major change, it often results in feelings of uncertainty, fear, and sometimes even dread. But …

Starve your distractions and feed your focus. That advice is genuinely golden. Lately I have felt myself being pulled in a million different directions. Whenever that happens in my life I inevitably end up feeling less happy rather than feeling happier. I think the reason for that is that when any of us are distracted …

Today I want to pay tribute to an amazing woman named Iris who happens to be my Aunt. Aunt Iris would have celebrated her 98th birthday this week, but sadly on Friday we got word that Iris had passed away. On the one hand I am incredibly sad to see Iris pass from this life because she was such a …

At different points in our lives, especially during times of trial, we might find ourselves feeling anxiety over the uncertainty of what lies in store for us in our future years. I have faced that myself at times, especially when one phase of life has come to an end and another one begins, such as …

“The secret of discipline is motivation. When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline will take care of itself.” – Sir Alexander Paterson Last week I spent the entire week out of town down at Lake Powell with a group of business associates and their families along with my own family. It was gorgeous as always …

The average runner runs until The breath in him is gone, But the champion has the iron will That makes him carry on. For rest the average runner begs When limp his muscles grow, But the champion runs on leaden legs. His courage makes him go. The average man’s complacent when He’s done his best …

As those of you who follow my blog know, I try to write each day about something I learned during each day I am writing. So being that it is Super Bowl Sunday, I decided to write a lesson that comes to mind as I am sitting watching the game with my family (okay let’s …

The New Year is more than just a change in calendar, it’s the perfect time to change ourselves by making a commitment to become better. It’s the perfect time to take a good hard look at the things we want to change in our lives and recognize what actions we have to take in order …

Star Wars is a pretty big deal at our house because our 22 year old son is OBSESSED with it! Like seriously obsessed. He has been collecting the entire Star Wars lego collection for years with one of his life goals being that he wants to reenact episode 1-6 with his Legos….way to dream big… …

What if we were to all wake up each morning with an: I CAN, I WILL, I DO attitude? Can you even begin to imagine the incredible things we could accomplish if we really embraced that “can, will, do” mentality going into each new day? I CAN is us keeping a positive attitude and a …

I was raised to believe in the value of hard work. I don’t know if hard work came naturally to me or if it was a learned trait by watching my parents work their tails off. All I know is that being a slacker was never even a temptation for me. I always took personal …

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there …

Life’s Tug Of War Life can seem ungrateful and not always kind. Life can pull at your heartstrings and play with your mind. Life can be blissful and happy and free. Life can put beauty in the things that you see. Life can place challenges right at your feet. Life can make good of the …

“I am too positive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful, and too determined to be defeated.” I love that quote because it provides a stark comparison to two ways we can choose to live our lives. We can either be doubtful, fearful, and defeated….or we can be positive, optimistic, and determined….which sounds better …

“You never know how strong you are…until being strong is the only choice you have.” Some days you come to the end of your day feeling like you have taken all you can take…you have given all you have to give…dealt with all you can possibly deal with…you literally feel like you are at the …

I have been writing daily blogs five days a week for over 4 ½ years without missing a single day. There have been times when I was really sick but I still wrote my blogs because I had promised I wouldn’t miss a single day. Back in 2011, my daughter Ashley, who was 15 at …

The last two weeks have been crazy for me and my family! Let me backup and explain. My family’s favorite place on the planet is Lake Powell. Lake Powell is our heaven on earth. We started going there when my kids were just little at the invitation of some good friends. They invited me down …

I decided long ago that anything I was going to do in my life, I was going to give it 110%. I never wanted to put my name on something that I couldn`t feel proud of doing. And I felt that if I wasn’t willing to give something my all then why even do it? I can …

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always …

I was down sick again today, but I wanted to share a story with you that I came across a few years ago that touched my life in a major way. I shared the story years ago in a company blog, but I am reposting it again today for all of you to read as …

“To succeed you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you” – Tony Dorsett Being self-motivated is critically important. Far too often people sit back waiting for someone else to give them a reason to get up and get going. If you want to make something of …